Near-fatal accident a warning for others

HOME: Kay Samuels is pleased to have son Geremaia, 10, home after he was hit by a car. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

The mother of a 10-year-old hit by a car on Fairy Springs Rd says she does not want any other parent to experience what she did.

Kay Samuels' son Geremaia was critically injured in the March 8 incident and in the first 24 hours doctors did not know if he would survive.

The Selwyn Primary School student was discharged from hospital on Wednesday but faces months of recovery and his injuries have changed his life.

Geremaia had been staying at his aunty's house over that fateful weekend and was supposed to have arrived home, but instead he played with his friends.

"I won't let my kids walk across the roads now," Miss Samuels said.

"I'll drop them off and pick them up and if their friends want to see them they can come here. They call me mean, but I don't care. I don't want anyone else's kids going through this. It's not a nice feeling.

"I think he got carried away with his friends. The police said they were playing on the road.

"I wanted to strangle him to tell you the truth. I've always told them to use the crossings, to look both ways, even when going past a driveway."

Geremaia's friend's mother was at the scene and got hold of Miss Samuels immediately. But it was another five hours before Miss Samuels got to see her son at Rotorua Hospital. An hour later they were transferred to Auckland's Starship Hospital. "He was already in theatre when we got to Rotorua Hospital. I was angry and worried, just wondering what had happened. When we finally got to see him it was pretty freaky; we saw a bed full of blood. The doctors weren't sure he was going to make it, it was up to him."

Geremaia suffered swelling on the brain and was put in an induced coma. It was four days before he woke. He had a punctured lung, broken jaw, missing teeth and a shattered leg - he has to wear a metal brace for five months and can no longer take part in his favourite mixed martial arts or any contact sport.

Miss Samuels said she had received a lot of support from friends and family in the past month. Her partner Vel Solo and eldest child Johnnie-Lee, 11, stayed in Auckland while Geremaia was in Starship. Relatives looked after Elizae, 7 and Hemi, 5. Miss Samuels has stopped work until Geremaia is fully recovered.

Police investigations are continuing.